Justin's end of year concert - video 3

Justin's end of year concert - video 2

Justin's end of year concert

Batlow - home of the apples

About 6 weeks ago, we went to Batlow, a 4.5 hr drive south of Sydney, for a long weekend with a group of friends. Batlow was a halfway point inland, as opposed to the coast, between Sydney and Melbourne. We were so excited about this weekend away because we were renting a big house with a great group of friends and it was our first road trip with the kids in our newish (4 months old) car. Traveling with kids at the best of times takes a lot of planning and organising. With that in mind, we decided to leave Sydney at 4am which would allow the kids to sleep in the car while it was still dark and get to Canberra in time for a breakfast meet-up with our friends Martine, Juergen and Nadia. Row and I woke up at 3:30am, got ready, packed the car up and tried to move the kids from their warm snuggly beds into the cold car.....hahaha lucky we're not Ninjas as stealth is not our forte! Justin woke up and was so excited about finally seeing his friend Kieran that he got his sister all excited too. Luckily, after half an hour of driving, they fell asleep again which meant I could get some shut-eye which allowed Row to drive in peace all the way to Canberra.

We met at Martine's house and changed the kids before heading off to a little cafe for some much needed breakfast. It was great seeing Martine and Juergen who have been traveling for the past year and to see how much Nadia has grown. We had a lovely catch up session before resuming our drive. Thank goodness the kids had a chance to stretch their legs and fill up their tummies so they were quite good on the remainder of the drive. We finally reached Batlow just past lunch and were the first family to arrive. We met the housekeeper and got the lay of the land and staked our rooms ;) Vernon, Bonita and baby Jake were the next to arrive as they so kindly offered to do the grocery shopping. Jono and Chantel, Robin, Melissa, Kieran and Daniel arrived shortly after.

Our home for the weekend

The best thing about these weekends is the planning that goes into the meals, we always eat so well and this didn't disappoint. For our first night, Bon made a vegetarian lasagne and we had home made pizzas. It was a bit of a muddle as we all tried to get our routines into sync what with the babies and all but it all worked out well. Justin and Kieran got to make their own pizzas and ate early with the younger kids. Then we bathed them and put them to bed, except for Justin, and then the grown up finally sat down for dinner at 8:30pm. I think we had high expectations for this weekend because we brought along board games. Needless to say, after dinner, we all looked at each other and gave the silent agreement that it would indeed be bed time soon.

Justin and Kieran enjoying their pizzas

Saturday started bright and early...for us anyways, why do our kids insist on waking up at the crack of dawn while the other kids sleep in till at least 7:30/ 8:00am. Anyways....after everyone had woken and eaten breakfast, we slowly got moving and were out the house by lunchtime! Poor Baby Jake was not feeling good so they wandered around the nearby town of Tumut with Jono and Chants while the rest of us went to the caves, just over an hour's drive away. We had a quick picnic lunch at the national park and then headed for the caves. The kids had fun, so did we, it's been years since I went into a cave. Justin and Kieran also had fun flashing their torches (thanks uncle Jono, the did come in handy) around the dark caves. After trudging around in the dark and wet, the boys had a dip in the thermal springs. It was a great afternoon and now it was time to get back to the house. Row was really enjoying driving the car around the country roads, all windy and what not, until about 1.5kms from the house, out of nowhere, well, not nowhere, but from the bushes on the side of the ride, a kangaroo jumped out and practically landed right in front of the car. There was nothing Row could do except hit it, poor kangaroo but poor us too, although thankfully we were all okay.  Luckily the kids were sleeping when we hit the 'roo but they did wake up when the car stopped. Our car now un-driveable, had to be left on the side of the road while a tow-truck had to drive from Wagga, an hour and a half away. By the time we sat down for dinner, we were pretty ravenous, Jono and Vern did a brilliant job of braaing the meat and Chants, Mel and Bon made good veggy dishes. Post dinner, Vernon kept us entertained sharing numerous stories that had us all in stitches. Ta V, that relieved the stress for us Mings ;)

At the caves

Ava and Daniel enjoying their picnic lunch

The boys having a swim in the thermal springs

We spent Sunday milling around the house mainly because Row now had to find a rental car for us to get back to Sydney and the Songs were leaving that evening. After much internet trawling, Row found a rental car that had to be picked up from Wagga. Thanks Jono for driving us there to collect the rental and to everyone else, especially Chants, for looking after our kids while we sorted out the rental car. At least we had roast leg of lamb to look forward to.

We left Batlow on Monday morning, sans our car, Trevor the Tiguan. The drive home was uneventful although we had to stop several times for the kids to stretch their legs and for me to nap as I was driving. Thankfully we all made it home safe and sound! 

And I am happy to say that 5 weeks later, we finally got Trevor the Tiguan back, looking as good as new! 

These are photos of the kids enjoying the space

A day of celebrations

Sunday, 1st September 2013, was a very big day of celebrations. It was Father's Day (only here in Australia), Ava's baptism, my mom-in-law's birthday and spring day!!!!!

The excitement for Father's Day began on Friday night when Justin came back from daycare bearing gifts for his daddy. He was so excited that he wanted to give his present and card to Row straight away. Row managed to convince him to wait till Sunday so Justin said he would tell Row what he made for him...but he would whisper it into Row's ear so it would be a surprise! I finally convinced Justin to whisper it into my ear and then to hide his present in my cupboard ready for Sunday. Sunday morning, bright and early, Justin opens his eyes and they light up as he realises that it's Sunday morning. He asks me, Is it Sunday? It is Father's Day? When I groggily nodded he leapt out of bed to get his present and card and gave it to Row with a loud, "Happy father's day!" Ava heard all the excitement and so became very vocal about wanting to join in so I had to force myself out of bed to collect her and then she also gave her daddy a present and some cuddles. Justin ordered Row to stay in bed and for me to go make breakfast with his help, of course. Justin helped make daddy's daily wheatgrass and chia seed drink and then carried it to Row who obligingly stayed in bed! Then he made Row a cup of coffee and daddy was again ordered to stay in bed and drink his coffee. It was actually too cute seeing Ava with her morning bottle lying in bed with her daddy who was drinking his morning coffee. I ended up making breakfast as Justin had now lost interest and was demanding his own breakfast. 

After breakfast it was time to get ready for Ava's baptism. It was a low key affair as the baptism was held separately after the morning mass. We asked our upstairs neighbour, Sophie, to be Ava's godmother and Bg to be her godfather. We've known Sophie since we moved into our apartment and she is just such a lovely young lady. Justin loves her especially as she always plays with him. Three other children were baptised at the same time, one girl was older, about Justin's age, and the other two were babies who looked about six months old. Not one peep out of any of the children throughout the baptism which lasted about 40 minutes. Even when Father Allo poured the water over their heads, not a single peep. After the baptism, we had Sophie, Bg, Louise, Candice and Barry over for lunch to celebrate this special occasion. 

Pouring the holy water

Ava with her godparents, parents and big brother

Happy birthday to mom/ Ma-Ma! Hope you had a fabulous time in PE. 

Happy Spring Day to all of us in the southern hemisphere! Can't wait for summer :)

Museum of Contemporary Art

About a month ago, when I was frantically working on two assignments, Row decided to take Justin and Ava to the Museum of Contemporary Art for a children's art event. The reasons were two-fold: Justin does love art and craft and Row thought it would be good for them to be exposed to cultural outings especially in the dead of winter when it's freezing, and possibly raining, outside. The theme for that event was 'Crazy Critters' and you had to walk through certain exhibits and look for animals in the artwork. Once you have found all the animals on the list, you go to an art and craft room and make something. The MCA provides all the materials and your child goes wild using his or her imagination. Justin chose to make an alien based on the three-eyed alien from Toy Story and a moon. He had so much fun and it lasts long enough so that they don't get bored.

Justin and his alien and moon

These events are held once a month and it just so happened that there was another one this past Sunday. Seeing as I missed out on the previous event, we decided to go there for the afternoon. I must admit I was bit apprehensive as I am not keen on abstract or contemporary art but I was pleasantly surprised and quite enjoyed the exhibitions.  The theme for this event was 'String Theory' and the exhibitions included different objects made out of string. One exhibition was pictures made out of all kinds of string made from different fabrics, another was bags made out of straw, another was desert weavers and another was dolls made out string. Justin had to look at the trees and the different patterns on them in the desert weavers exhibition and then draw his own pattern on a tree. Then he had to look at the photographs of the different bags to see what people carried inside them and then he had to pretend he was going on an adventure and to draw what he would take inside his bag. The last item to do was to look at the collection of dolls and find the three listed ones. The craft at the end was to design and make your own doll using newspaper. Other materials included ribbon, string, rope, bits and pieces of fabric material and pipe cleaners. Justin decided to make a boy basketball player doll as that is one of the dolls he had to find. Row helped make Ava a little Russian babushka doll. 

It was a lovely family outing and also nice to be out in the city as we rarely go there. We started off with lunch at a pub filled it with a visit to the MCA and ended it off with coffee and milkshake at The Rocks Cafe. 

Pictures made out of string

Justin drawing a pattern on his tree

Dolls exhibition

Desert Weavers exhibition

Justin drawing all the things he would pack in his bag

Justin and Row making the dolls

The end products

Happy 1st birthday Ava!

I am a terrible mommy :(

Ava turned one 6 weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to update our blog with this big milestone. In the run-up to our baby girl's first birthday, Row and I were debating about whether or not to have a party. Having a birthday party at the park in the middle of July didn't thrill either of us. But since it's Ava's first birthday and you only turn 1 once :) I decided we had to celebrate and convinced Row to jump on board with the idea. I managed to secure an indoor location at the Randwick Community Centre so it was a go!  The theme was "Owls", I learnt my lesson from Justin's parties, keep it simple otherwise you'll struggle to bake a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cake. I love Pinterest!!!!! Came up with so many ideas for the invitations, cakes and cupcakes and decor. I've also learnt to ask for help so I asked my Dragon Babes mummy group to each bring a plate of eats and I asked my very creative sister-in-law to make bunting which just left me to bake the cupcakes and birthday cake. 

The night before Ava's party, I was making the cupcakes and had an idea in mind. Alas, Row turned out to be the super-creative mind and had so much fun decorating the cupcakes. Each owl had it's persona!!!!! Which meant each owl was uniquely decorated :) And the owl cake was made on the morning of the party. Poor Ava was not feeling well on the day of her party but she was a trooper! It was great having all the babies together to celebrate, pity we missed taking a group shot. Ava passed out in the car on the way home, not sure if it was the excitement or that she was a bit miserable.

Happy 1st birthday Avakins! Love you so much, dada, mama and Justin

Party bags

Decorations

A big hug for the birthday girl

The bunting

The cupcakes

Birthday cake

The Mingdom

Ava cutting her cake

As busy as a bee...

The month of May is a crazy month with mine, Justin's and Bg's birthdays (plus my dad's and half of the Fok family) and Mother's Day. This May seemed to be even busier than usual. 

I started studying again and am now doing my BEd in Early Childhood and am really enjoying it. It's difficult at times trying to manage my studies, look after two kids, be a good wife and a domestic goddess but somehow I managed. Although it has taken me 3 years to get 3 credits :/ And I need 22 credits to finish this degree. Thanks to my supportive and loving hubby, this degree is possible though. So in between weekly tasks and major assignments, I had to plan Justin's birthday party which had to be postponed by a week because my major assignment was due the day before his birthday.

Row has become a CrossFit member and absolutely loves it. He comes home and talks to me about about muscle ups and burpees and toes to poles (or something) and I answer him with a blank look but make up for it with my enthusiasm in supporting him and listening about how awesome CrossFit is. I love how enthusiastic he is...plus I also get to benefit from his fit body :) The same weekend before Justin's birthday and my assignment, Row entered his box (gym) CrossFit competition and he was so pumped for it....I went to watch a bit and saw my man in action. His efforts paid off so well that he and his partner came first in their division. 

For Mother's Day, I was spoilt the whole weekend. It started off with Row taking me out for dinner on Friday night and flowers on Saturday and of course a beautiful card and awesome present from Justin that he made at daycare and a card from Ava. I truly am blessed to be the mother of these two gorgeous children who are able to make my heart melt with just a smile, a cuddle, a kiss or a giggle. Love my kids!

The real busy bees are Justin and Ava though. Justin has been swimming since he was about 15 months old and he still loves it. He's now in the Goldfish class and is learning to do strokes. Not to be biased or anything, but he seems to be a strong swimmer. We decided to start Ava as well although I wanted to wait till summer but Row wants to take Ava and weekend spots are like finding needles in haystacks. It just so happened that when I enquired, they had a spot on Sunday so we started almost 2 months ago. The first lesson did not go well, Ava cried for most of the lesson but her second lesson was much better and by her third, she even submerged for a few seconds. But since then she's missed 2 weeks because she had a bit of a cold. Justin has also started tennis lessons which he absolutely loves. After working in HK, I always said I would never be one of those parents who enroll their kid in every single activity possible so that they can become well rounded children...but it's only two activities a week plus he has so much energy that at least he's burning it off constructively. Justin's also asked to start soccer and re-start gymnastics.

We've had two new additions to the family, one on my side and one on Row's side. My cousin Yong and his wife Nicole had a little girl and Row's cousin, Claire and her husband B also had a little girl. Congratulations to our cousins and welcome to the new babas. 

Justin at his first tennis lesson

Mother's Day collage

Ava's first swimming lesson

Justin at tennis

Cowabunga dude!

I clearly remember the day I went into labour with our first born, Justin....and now he's 4 years old.Where has the time gone?!?!?!?

Justin - 13 May 2009

Justin's actual birthday was on a Monday so we celebrated with just the family and had his party the following weekend. Bright and early on Monday morning, Justin jumped out of bed and said, "It's my birthday!" He had asked for Donatello, the purple Ninja Turtle, so no surprise there but still, his face when he opened his present was one of pure happiness. He kept thanking us the whole day. Row took the afternoon off to spend it with Justin and came home just in time to see the grandparents Skype and Face Time (gotta love technology) with Justin to wish him happy birthday and see him open their present. The grandparents spoilt him this year with an awesome fire engine red balance scooter, one that Justin has been eyeing since Christmas! He was over the moon ecstatically happy and that is an under-statement ;)  That evening, Kaufoo, Kaumoo, Kooche and Koocheung came over for dinner and master Ming was even more spoilt. I made him pizza for dinner and he got a cupcake with a candle.

This year the craze and hence the party theme, was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Justin obviously learnt about this from school as he has not seen it at home but he knows who they are, their colours and their names (and thankfully that's all!) Now that Justin is old enough to know what birthdays mean, i.e. presents, parties, cakes and blowing out candles, we couldn't wiggle out of it this year. He started inviting people to his party like a month before (and we hadn't even organised anything at that stage.) We had a BBQ/ picnic party at Centennial Park and thankfully the sun was shining because it was quite cold. The kids made TMNT masks and shells, played "Pass the parcel" and ran around playing ball, tag, etc. Justin had a good day and was really spoilt again.  

TMNT cupcakes

TMNT cookies

Justin and his mate Oliver as "Leonardo"

Java

To keep up with the celebs, my family has come up of a combo name for Justin and Ava...JAVA! So this is a post about JAva since I haven't shared any updates about them in a long time. 

Currently, Justin is 3 years and 10 months old. He's been busy busy busy going to daycare, swimming lessons, play dates and most exciting, being ring bearer at my brother's wedding. Our stream of visitors has also kept Justin entertained, amused and very busy and to some extent, out of routine. He's been to Taronga Zoo and the Sydney Aquarium with his paternal grandparents, not to mention the playgrounds. They also took him to Hyde Park to celebrate Australia Day where he was able to see various cartoon characters such as Skippy the Aussie kangaroo and Dorothy the Dinosaur and the star attraction, Rah Rah the Noisy Lion. Justin's godmother came to visit and they spent some quality bonding time together at Circular Quay and Watsons Bay. And then some of my family and my parents came out for Bg's wedding so Justin has had an endless supply of playmates and getting re-acquainted with family. Today Justin went to his weekly swimming lesson which he has missed for the past 3 weeks due to being sick and we were told that he's been promoted to the next level; he's a now a goldfish! 

Ava is 8 months old and hitting her milestones much to quickly for my liking. At exactly 6 months old, she sat up all by herself with no support. At 6.5 months old, she started crawling... all in an effort to keep up with her big brother. At just over 7 months, her bottom tooth cut and she now has 2 bottom teeth. She also started pulling herself up to standing and this week she has started trying to cruise along the furniture. Ava is extremely verbal and loves the sound of her voice...she'll have to fight hard to get talking time with her brother being such a chatterbox. Justin and Ava have that same "fake" smile, it's too precious! I have yet to capture it on camera as I'm never quick enough. She also loves playing peek-a-boo and has started trying to wave and blow kisses. We've taken her to the beach a few times and she absolutely loves the sand, sitting with her legs stretched out and moving her legs around in the sand.  

Enjoy the pictures!

Sitting by herself for the first time

Playing tour guide

Water Baby 1

Water Baby 2

Ava pulling herself up to standing

Exploring the gardens

Relaxing in Gerringong

There are many little towns along the coast which makes it easy for short get-aways out of Sydney. With family visiting from Canada and South Africa, we decided to take them to Gerringong, a little town south of Sydney. For the locals, being Bg, Louise, Row and I, it was nice to get away and for the visitors, it was nice to see someplace else besides Sydney but also not too far that it felt rushed. 

Bg, my mom and dad, Popo, uncle Raymond, Anthony and Jeff left on Tuesday. Louise was still in Hunter Valley and Justin had daycare. So with his routine already being disrupted, I opted to drive down on Wednesday after Justin had spent the morning at daycare, and Louise trained it back to the city and kept me company on our drive to Gerringong. We had rented a massive house that had a spectacular infinity pool, a games room/ lounge with a huge projector screen tv and it even came with a resident emu. Luckily, they made use of the pool that afternoon as the weather turned on Thursday. Row wasn't able to take any leave but thankfully he could work in Wollongong and then train it out to Gerringong to spend a night with us (that was probably the only time he was grateful that he had to work in Wollongong :)  There was nothing on the agenda except eat, sleep, read, relax and play mah jong. But with miserable weather preventing us from enjoying the pool, we took a leisurely drive even further south to another town called Berry. All these towns are quaint towns that only have 1 main street filled with a couple of shops. Berry was done and dusted in about an hour. That evening, Row joined us and we had a delicious lamb pie and a hilarious game of Pictionary. The weather was a bit miserable on Friday but it was okay cos we left to come back to Sydney making a quick stop at the Kiama Blowhole.

Food food food....we ate so well while in Gerringong. I missed the braai (BBQ) on the first night but there were lamb chops, spicy chicken, pap (maize porridge). The second night we had chicken wings, salad and more pap. Louise made crumpets, aka pikelets, aka flap jacks with strawberries and bacon for breakfast one morning. We made a lamb pie using a leg of lamb and potatoes and carrots. Popo made us her delicious special pancakes aka crepes. 

Justin and Kau-Mo enjoying the infinity pool

Ava enjoying the infiinty pool

The pool and house

The resident emu

Justin enjoying the wide open space 

Popo's delicious pancakes

Family dinner in Gerringong 

Checking out the Kiama Blowhole